Imre Kery (Bittner)

* Késmárk, November 12, 1798 – † Borossebes, May 15, 1887 / physician, public health specialist, corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences ; ; He completed his high school studies in Miskolc and Kisszeben, then enrolled in the law academy in Košice. For a short time, he was tutored in the house of Frigyes Keresztessy, the chief physician of Abaúj county, where he became interested in the medical profession. In 1819, he enrolled in the University of Pest, where he studied medicine. He was ordained a doctor of medicine in 1825. In his last years at university, he made study trips to several Central European countries, and at that time his hearing deteriorated for reasons that are not yet known, so his desire to teach at university could not be fulfilled. In 1825, he moved to Borosjenő in Arad County, where he was first the manorial physician of the Count Königsegg family, then the assistant physician of Arad County between 1829 and 1849, and then the chief physician. He changed his name to Kéry in 1848. He resigned after the failure of the War of Independence in 1848/49, but from 1860 until his death he was again the chief physician of the county. As a physician, he excelled primarily in the fight against epidemics (smallpox, cholera, malaria). He also analyzed the chemical composition of mineral waters and examined their medicinal effects. As an amateur, he also dealt with botany, astronomy, geology and geography, and even held his academic chair on a geographical topic in 1859, entitled Description of the easternmost mountainous region of our country, belonging to Arad County. His hobbies included viticulture and winemaking, and in 1872 he received a certificate of recognition for one of his wines. ; ; His main works: ; On the Bánság fevers, 1847, ; Ideas for the regulation of public medicine in Hungary, 1848, ; The mineral spring of Mennyháza in chemical and medicinal terms, as some information for those who wish to use this spa (also in German), 1866.